I love trying to make my own version of dresses I’ve seen on the runway or the high street – it’s a huge high to say I can totally make that and then you do it! 😂

I’ve done it a few times before (check out some of them here, here and here) but this was my first time trying anything from the brand Ganni! Ganni is a danish fashion brand that’s really come into its own in the last couple of years. Think statement designs, bright prints and just so effortlessly cool. All the influencers seem to be wearing it and for good reason – everything is just so instagrammable!

So my inspiration garment is this dress here:

I loved the statement puffed sleeved and the shirring on the cuff and bodice. And that fabric! Oh so pretty!

Now unfortunately I couldn’t find a replica of that fabric so I went my own way and used a lovely baby blue floral viscose from Stoff & Stil with a real 70s vibe.

I opted to use two patterns to recreate this look – the Raspberry dress from CocoWawa and the Hannah dress from By Hand London.

The Raspberry dress had the simple shirred bodice I wanted. (To be fair I could probably have replicated this myself but it would’ve involved trial and error and lots of time and I was too impatient!). I shortened the bodice by 2cm to fit. I then added part of the shoulder and armscye from the Hannah dress to the sides of this bodice as shown below.

I lined each “strap” and attached them by top stitching them in place along the shirring lines.

I used the bishop sleeve variation of the Hannah dress, shirring the hem instead creating the channel and ties as the original pattern calls for. I also raised the sleeve cap by a couple of centimetres in order to create that little pouf at the top.

I kept the skirt as simple as possible and used a single width of the fabric to create a long tube with a vent at the bottom. I gathered the top of the skirt with elastic and attached this edge to the shirred bodice with a zigzag stitch.

I love how it’s turned out! It’s part contemporary style, part 70s nightgown and it’s everything I hoped it would be!

Check out my YouTube video on this dress here!